Paradise Lost
by vampirebutterflyqueen
Summary: I always used to wonder what happened to Neri and Jason after the end of season four. This is my interpretation of what might have happened next...
1. The News

**Summary: They never made a season five so this is what I like to think what would have happened next after the last episode of season four.**

**Disclaimer: Ocean Girl/Odyssey and all associated characters, places, institutions and ideas are the property of Jonathon M. Schiff. I loved this TV show and I wish they had continued and made many more seasons of it but in a way I'm glad they didn't because I can now write my own interpretation on what might have happened after season 4.**

**Paradise Lost**

**Chapter One: The News**

"Jason?" Diane looked across the table at her oldest son who was staring moodily out of the window of their cabin, staring moodily out through the murky depths of the Pacific Ocean, apparently lost in thought. There was no response from Jason, who had dark rings under his eyes as though he hadn't been getting enough sleep. That was probably the case. Every day after he finished his ORCA duties, he'd started heading over to Neri's island to see her, often not returning back to ORCA until late into the night, after Dianne herself had gone to bed.

She sighed and crossed the room to stand behind him. "Jason?" She tapped him on the shoulder and shook it a little in an attempt to shake him out of his thoughts.

He turned round and met his mother's gaze, stifling a yawn that was trying to get out. "Yes, mum?" He asked, rubbing his eyes in attempt to wake himself up properly. "Did I miss something?"

Diane ruffled his hair affectionately, like she used to do when Jason was younger, but now Jason ducked out of the reach of her hand and crossed back across the room, sitting down at the large table and pouring himself a glass of orange from the large jug in the centre of the table.

"No, not really," She smiled. "I was just telling you that because of all the hard work you've put in over the last few weeks while I've been helping to deal with all the media interest in Neri and her people that I've taken you off the roster for the next four days. I want you to relax and get some rest. You look exhausted," She told him concernedly.

Since the Ocean Planet's attempt under Malakat to melt the ice caps and take over Earth failed and Shalamorn's return, the eye of the world's media had been fixed solidly ORCA as people wanted to find out more about these aliens. In an attempt to keep Neri out of the limelight which Jason knew she would have hated, Shalamorn, Neri's mother, had made several public appearances with Madame President who had flown over to Australia especially to meet this ruler from the another planet.

Meanwhile, Jason and Neri had been busy watching the oceans, checking to make sure that the cure to the red virus that they'd found in Charley's blood was really working, destroying the foul creation that Malakat had invented in an attempt to gain support for his planned invasion. They'd been monitoring the area the virus was covering, checking what damage had been done and generally keeping an eye on things. It was an exhausting task because the virus at its peak had spread to cover a huge amount of ocean and the damage it had caused was massive.

But Shalamorn had left now, to return to her planet and repair the damage that had been done on her own planet and the media was turning its attention to the princess that Shalamorn had left behind to forge a greater relationship between the two planets. Diane had been doing her best to field the questions as to Neri's whereabouts for now but the time was coming when Neri would have to take up her duties and Jason wasn't looking forward to having to share his best friend, his girlfriend (although he didn't like using that term because he felt it made the relationship seem trivial as though it was just a childhood crush or something) with the rest of the world. She was just too special, too innocent to the human world around her and that was one of the things he adored about her. He didn't want her to be tainted by the human world.

But the thought of being able to spend four whole days with Neri, not having to worry about coming back to ORCA to get some sleep before he had to do his officer duties, to just relax and bask in the sun on her island sounded like pure bliss to him. Suddenly, the tiredness that had been plaguing him seemed to disappear and he was eager, impatient to be getting up to the pontoon, to fire up the zodiac and head straight over to the island. The sooner he set off, the longer he could spend with Neri.

"Seriously?" He double checked with his mother first, not wanting to get caught out by some prank or something. "You sure you don't need me around to help you take care of the reporters?" He wasn't about to let her deal with some of the rude reporters who kept calling for more information about her relationship with Neri and who could get down right abusive when she refused to give them any information or refused to let them talk to her sons.

Diane smiled sardonically. "I've got First Officer Denton and his son dealing with those calls," She admitted. "Louis is really good at fielding all their questions and annoying them into hanging up."

"So the little squirt is finally doing something useful around here," Jason commented harshly. "Besides spying on people and finding the worst possible people in the world to snitch on them too," He still disliked the younger boy who had been the cause of so much suffering and heartache over the past few months.

Diane sighed. "Jason, he's had a tough childhood," She sighed. "I know he's not the easiest kids to live with but try and go a little easier on him. He could use a few friends,"

"Well not me," Jason said firmly. "I want nothing to do with him,"

"Fine," Diane thought it would be wiser just let the matter drop. "Just be polite to him when you see him around in the corridors."

"Don't worry, I will be," Jason frowned at the thought of it though.

"Well," Diane briskly changed the topic of conversation. "I guess you'll be heading off to the island, then,"

"Yeah," Jason shrugged, not wanting to make a big deal about this. He hadn't told his mum about that day on the beach or his feelings for Neri. He knew his mother knew that he cared about Neri as more than just a sister, but she didn't realised how much exactly he cared for her. He just wasn't ready to admit it to his mother, to admit that her knowing looks over the past few years, the subtle comments that she'd made about the close relationship he'd had with Neri. Also, it was all so new, so precious that he didn't want to want to share it with someone else yet. He wanted to savour it, live with the joy and the happiness of it all and keep it to himself for now. "Just as soon as I've been up to the canteen to get something to eat," Jason grinned, trying to sound as normal as possible.

"Well give my love to Neri," Diane nodded, suspecting that he was hiding something from her but not wanting to push him into revealing what it was. Jason would tell her in his own time when he was ready. "Tell her not to be a stranger, I miss seeing her pop up around here these days,"

He down the orange in his glass in one long gulp and got to his feet. "I'll tell her," He grinned. "If we get bored, I'll make sure to drag her over here for a visit." He joked, heading towards the door.

Before he could leave though, HELEN's voice filled the room. "Urgent video call for Commander Bates," Jason paused in the doorway.

Diane sighed. "Who is it, HELEN?" She asked politely, crossing to the table to pour a glass of orange juice before approaching the computer screen mounted in the wall of the room.

"It's Madame President, Commander Bates," HELEN informed her cheerfully and Jason walked back towards the table.

"Patch her through then, HELEN," Diane told the computer, running her hand through her hair, something she only ever did when she was under extreme pressure.

"Affirmative, Commander," As Helen spoke, the screen filled with the image of a stern looking lady seated bolt upright in what looked like some lawyers office. Jason had seen her before a couple of times before in the past and was always a little wary when it came to dealing with her.

"Greetings Madame President," Diane greeted her with a smile. "How can I help you today?"

"_Hello, Commander Bates,"_ The women on the screen replied with a tired smile. _"I hear your having to field questions from the world's media about Princess Neri,"_ Her expression was nothing but polite but for the most part it was expressionless.

"I have my First Officer dealing with their enquiries while I organise the rest of my officers into getting ORCA back up and running. We want to get the base back up and running as a research centre as soon as possible, particularly so we can investigate the effects that the red virus has had and will continue to have on the local ecosystem," Diane explained.

"_Good, we need as much information on that as possible. Good work, Commander,"_ Madame President nodded her approval. Jason frowned; his mother didn't need anyone's approval on how ORCA was run except from his dad.

"Thank you, Madame President," Diane replied tactfully. "We'll do our best to minimise the damage done to the area. We were lucky to find a cure for the virus so quickly before it spread further. If not, it doesn't bear to think about the scale of the damage that could have been done," She admitted.

"_Indeed,"_ On screen, the president was suddenly handed a sheaf of papers which she looked down at, seeming to skim read the first two pages before looking back up. _"While that is good news, I have more important matters that I need to discuss with you, concerning Princess Neri and her role as heir apparent to her mother's throne on the Ocean Planet,"_

Jason's gut fell. Whatever was happening, it probably wasn't the carefree, happy future he wanted for Neri. There was too much interest in her for her whereabouts to be kept a secret from the rest of the world. People were rightly curious about these people from another planet who were more technologically advanced than the human race and who could swim through the oceans and seas like fish without needing scuba equipment. Scientists would want to do experiments, find how they could do this and if it would be possible to somehow make humans able to do the same, school children would want to see this princess from another planet and everyone would want to know every single detail about her life and her planet.

Diane frowned. "I don't know much about Neri's role, I'm sorry." She admitted. "Shalamorn didn't really discuss the topic with me at full length. Whenever she had a spare moment she was more concerned with getting to know her daughters than to tell me every single little detail,"

Madame President's face hardened for a millisecond before forming back into the expressionless mask she normally wore. _"I meant her role as an ambassador for her people,"_ She explained patiently. _"We cannot bring together our two different races if she is hidden away on her little island in the middle of nowhere. She needs to learn about our cultures and about our way of life and she needs to tell us about her people's way of life and their cultures. She is a figurehead for her people and she needs to be seen. She needs to meet with the leaders of the world, to go and meet every day people and talk to them and be seen, like any other member of any other royal family from any country in the world. She needs to be given somewhere to stay matching her status within her own culture and be protected."_

"But the island is her home! It's the place she chooses to live in and stay, where she can be near the ocean and to her friend, Charley," Diane protested. "Doesn't she get a say in any of this?"

"_Of course we would listen to any concerns the princess may have," _Madame President conceded. _"But not everyone on this planet can be trusted. The last thing we want is for some unscrupulous scientist or terrorist group is to kidnap the Princess or to hurt her in anyway. It would be too difficult a task to expect us to be able to protect her on her island. With her own house on the mainland we can have security guards, body guards and cameras all over the place to keep a constant watch on the Princess at all times. Besides, her new duties would see that Princess Neri would be away from her island for long periods of time, possibly travelling all over the world. She'll see so many amazing places that she might never want to return to her island again. It is, after all, her duty to her people, to put them before herself and her happiness."_

"But Neri has always been free to come and go as she chooses, to live in harmony with the world around her, always close to sea and to Charley," Diane protested, horror welling up in her chest at the thought of Neri being removed to some cold, sterile mansion unable to do anything in private or on the spur of a moment. "And she's practically part of my family! Jason and Brett look at her as being the sister they never have and Neri calls me mother,"

"_I understand your deep attachment to the Princess Neri but my decision is final."_ Madame President waved the objections off with a flick of her hands. _"While arrangements are put in place for her accommodation, education and for her meetings with the rest of the world, she may stay on her island so long as you are willing to keep fielding the calls from the media. It will only take a few days for the arrangements to be made and then a helicopter will be sent to collect her. I will give you notice nearer the time in order for you to have the Princess ready and waiting to meet the helicopter,"_

Diane had to fight to keep the horror she was feeling from her face. She had been too busy to think about what the future might hold for Neri and though there was always the shadowy threat of Neri one day having to return to the Ocean Planet to reclaim her rightful place, she had always assumed that that day would be a long way into the future and that they would still have many more years with Neri before that day would come. Now the President was talking about ripping a part of Diane's family away from her and she didn't know how she was going to bear it, or even how Jason and Brett who were possibly the closest people on the planet to Neri would deal with this.

"_Is this understood, Commander Bates?"_ Madame President asked, her face softening a little in sympathy for the family's plight but unable to do anything different. It was for the good of both planets, for many billions of people that this had to be done.

"Yes, Madame President," Diane sighed shakily. "I understand,"

"_Good. I suggest you make the most of these last few days together. Make your goodbyes before it's too late," _The president informed them gravely. _"Bodyguards for the princess will arrive on ORCA within the next day or so. Be sure to make them welcome."_

"We will," Diane agreed, wondering how she could still appear so calm to the outside world when inside it felt like her entire world was collapsing around her and there was nothing she could do to stop it.

"_Thank you for you time. You know where to reach me if you need me,"_ With that the screen flickered and died, the ORCA logo reappearing on the monitor.

Diane turned to where her son stood, staring at the screen in horror. "Jason," She started.

"No! I won't let them do this to her!" Jason swore angrily. "They can't take her away from us! Shalamorn wouldn't want this! Neri would hate being so far away from the ocean, from Charley, from us! It would kill her! There has to be a way to stop this! I won't let them take her away from me!"

Diane sighed. "There isn't anything we can do to stop them," She sighed, her voice breaking in pain. "Go and find Neri, take Brett and Cass with you and tell her what's going to happen. Spend as much time with her as you can and I'll get over to island with Winston as quickly as I can. Wait till we get there, though, before you tell her. We're a family and we'll deal with this together, as a family,"

Jason looked for a moment like he was about to argue, but then spun on his heal and stormed towards the door, which swished quietly opened, and Jason climbed through, storming down the corridor towards the canteen where he knew his brother would be at this time of the morning. All thoughts of food and breakfast disappearing from his mind as his stomach churned, filled with a bitter vial of emotions he couldn't let out.


	2. How Do We Tell Her?

**Summary: They never made a season five so this is what I like to think what would have happened next after the last episode of season four.**

**Disclaimer: Ocean Girl/Odyssey and all associated characters, places, institutions and ideas are the property of Jonathon M. Schiff. I loved this TV show and I wish they had continued and made many more seasons of it but in a way I'm glad they didn't because I can now write my own interpretation on what might have happened after season 4.**

**Chapter Two: How Do We Tell Her?**

Jason raced through the corridors towards the lift that would take him up to the Gamma level recreation room where HELEN had told him his brother was currently located, playing pool against himself. Many of the families who had been living on ORCA before the evacuation still hadn't returned to ORCA yet and wouldn't until all the computer systems, research laboratories and everyday water, electricity and air conditioning were completely back up and working. Teams had been working day and night to repair the damage as quickly as possible and Jason knew his mother expected to have the scientists, researchers and their families back on board within the next week or so but until then, the Brett was stuck without anyone his own age to hang around with, Cass being a couple of years older than him spending most of her time working with Winston on one of his computer projects and Louis wasn't someone either of Bates wanted to spend time with.

He turned a corner and reached the lift, flicking his ID card under the scanner with an ease borne of several years of living on ORCA and carrying out that same trick. Luckily for Jason, with fewer people onboard at the moment, there was less demand for the lifts and the door swished open immediately. He hurried inside and activated the lift, shifting impatiently as the lift rose to the correct level. It seemed like an eternity to Jason, who was still trying to come to terms with the fact that Neri would be forced to leave them very soon and the fact that so soon after they acknowledged their feelings for each other, the fact that she would be torn away from them, from their family. Right now he didn't want to be running round after his little brother, Brett knew where Neri's island was and could handle a boat well enough to drive to himself out there.

The doors swished back open and he jumped out of the corridor, racing down to where the recreation room was. He activated the door and stuck his head through, spotting his brother over by the pool table, chalking his cue and contemplating his next move. "Brett! We have to get to the island now!" Jason called to him, urgency in his voice.

Brett looked up in shock. "Why? What's up?" He asked curiously, placing his cue in the stand and crossing the room towards his older brother.

"Madame President's just called Mum," Jason admitted. "We've been given some instructions as to Neri's future on earth and Mum wants us to find Cass and head straight over to the island. She'll join us there,"

Brett's eyes widened. "Sounds like Neri's in danger or something! What's happening?" He demanded as he followed Jason down the corridor, heading back towards the lift. "Tell me Jason, don't keep me out of this," He demanded impatiently.

Jason glared at him. "Just wait till we've found Cass," He said sharply, climbing back into the lift, stepping back to let Brett into it. "She's meeting us at the turbo lift. I'll tell you on the way there," Jason sighed. "I don't want to have to keep repeating myself," All Jason could hear was the words of that woman had said, repeatedly going through his head, ringing in his ears and he didn't know how he was going to tell his brother, let alone Neri what was going to happen.

When his Dad had left home and Mum had admitted that they were separated and that Paul was living with a colleague from work that he'd been sleeping with for over a year, Jason had been devastated. To him, his Dad had been the greatest person on the planet, always showing him new things, taking him on adventures in boats and showing him exciting new places. When Paul had left, there were no more adventures, no more new places to explore and it had felt like a huge part of his life had just been torn away and he was left floundering, having to be the strong one when Mum was sad and when Brett was crying at night because he missed Dad.

This was bigger though. After a while, he'd gotten used to his Dad not being there, he'd picked up the pieces and hung out with his friends more, filling his life with the crazy stunts that they'd somehow managed to come up with. If Neri went, if he was to never see her again then Jason didn't know what he could do. He couldn't stay at ORCA because as much as he loved the place and enjoyed living and working there, one of the main reasons that he was happy here was the fact that Neri was here. If you took Neri away, then there was nothing keeping him here. He was getting to the point where he was old enough to go away to university and in fact, a lot of the kids who had been on his cadet training had already left to pursue courses on the mainland. If he hadn't of known Neri, hadn't had her as a reason to stay then he would have probably joined them.

Before today, had anyone asked him, Jason would have said that while technically he was almost an adult, carrying out adult duties around ORCA, inside, where it mattered he still felt like a kid. This news had changed all that, suddenly he was feeling every bit of his age as suddenly the teenage world he had built around him with his brother and Neri was falling down and he was looking at his future and wondering what it held for him. There was a subtle change in his outlook towards life that while he couldn't exactly pinpoint what it was, made him feel like he'd left childhood behind, that he was now completely and fully an adult and that that change was irrevocable.

The lift reached the right level and Jason was quickly on the move, still lost in his own thoughts. Brett trailed quietly behind him, sensing his brother was upset about something and giving him some space. Jason would tell him soon enough what was going on but if it was making Jason act like this then it couldn't be good and Brett was starting to worry what on earth it could be.

Cass was leaning against the wall in front of the turbo lift, glancing around the corridors as the boys headed towards her. "Jason? What's up?" She demanded when she saw his face. "Has something happened to Neri?" She summoned the lift and the doors swished open.

They climbed in, doors closing behind them. Jason cleared his throat, knowing that he had to tell them but struggling to find the words. "Mum's just had a call from Madame President about Neri," He started, the words feeling hollow inside him. "Apparently, Neri is to be considered an ambassador for her people while on earth," The lift started to move, carrying them up towards the pontoon, the only bit of ORCA that was actually above water.

"Yeah, which is what Shalamorn wanted," Cass said sharply, looking a little confused, not understanding what was getting Jason so upset. "Remember, she said who better to bring the peoples together than Neri," She frowned, trying to remember the exact words Brett had used when retelling that moment when they'd found out that Neri was going to stay.

"I don't think what Shalamorn meant was for Neri to be forced off her island and made to live in some mansion on the mainland, permanently surrounded by bodyguards and forced to spend all her time meeting and greeting with all the world's leaders, spending time in some school learning how to be a human, unable to go wherever she wants whenever she wants," Jason said sourly as the lift shuddered to a halt. "And I bet they'll be wanting to run lots of tests and stuff on her while she's there and because she's there as an ambassador for her people, they'll pressure her into going along with it because it's her duty," He just couldn't keep the bitterness out of his voice.

The turbo lift doors opened and they headed out across the pontoon to where they stored their zodiac. It had once been an official piece of ORCA equipment when the place had first opened but had been decommissioned. One of Jason's friends had found a way to bring it back into use a few years ago and ever since they'd used it as their own private boat, relieved not to have to keep signing out boats in order to go and visit Neri.

"No way!" Brett exclaimed looking completely and utterly horrified. "They can't do that! Neri would hate it!"

"They can and are doing, whether Neri likes it or not," Jason said heavily.

Cass's eyes widened and for a moment she was too shocked to say anything. "They're honestly going to do that?" She finally managed to say. Jason nodded. "But that's just wrong! They can't take her away from the island, it's her home. And what about Charley? She swims with him at least once a day? They can't take her away from him! Besides, she's part of your family. She calls Commander Bates Mother, for pity's sake. They can't just take her away from you guys,"

Jason frowned. "I don't think they understand the bond between Charley and Neri," He carefully climbed down into the zodiac and then turned to help Cass climb in. "And as for us, well we'll just conveniently be forgotten I guess. Mum might be the commander here but outside on the mainland that counts for nothing really. I bet we'll just be forgotten."

Brett frowned as he followed Cass into the boat, heading over to start the motor. "But Neri wouldn't let them do that," He argued, tugging on the starter motor. "She'd insist on still being able to see us and if they wouldn't let her she'd just swim out and meet us. We could keep her uniform and ID card in the locker as usual and she could come and go as she pleases and HELEN would keep her visits a secret from anyone who asks." The boat engine roared into life.

"Not if they keep her too busy to be able to swim over," Cass said darkly, beginning to understand why Jason was getting upset. "And if they're far away enough from the ocean then she would have no chance,"

"Tell me about it," He stared at his watch as they started to pull away from the pontoon, wishing the boat would go faster. Even though he didn't know how in the world he was going to tell Neri, he wanted to spend every possible minute he could with her. He probably wouldn't be going back to ORCA much over the next few days.

"How are we going to tell Neri?" Cass asked suddenly. "You know what she's like. If she doesn't want to do something there is no way anyone can force her. You know how stubborn she can be,"

"Yeah but we all know that when pushed into the corner, she'll always do what she sees as being the right thing for her to do," Brett argued with a sigh.

"Yeah, well Mum said to wait until she and Winston gets to the island before we tell her," Jason shrugged. "She's going to try and get over as quickly as possible but it probably won't be until later on this evening because she'll have to oversee all the work going on at ORCA,"

Brett grimaced. "So we have to pretend that everything is just hunky dory until they arrive?" He asked, shaking his head like he didn't think it was possible.

"Pretty much," Jason nodded.

Cass snorted. "Yeah, because we're all just going to be able to act like nothing is up," She shook her head. "Neri isn't stupid, she'll figure something wrong as soon as she sees us," She pointed out.

That was also something Jason was worrying about. The island had always been somewhere to escape to, to get away from all the pressures of ORCA, even during the most dangerous of times when looking for the Synchronium and trying to beat both PRAXIS and Malakat and Shersheba. It was somewhere they could go to relax and have fun but how could they relax and have fun with this hanging over their heads?

"I guess we just tell her that Mum has some bad news, and that she wants to tell us when we're all together," Brett voiced his idea when no one else looked like they were going to come up with anything.

Jason nodded and peered over the edge of the boat into the murky water surrounding them. The pontoon was barely out of sight but sometimes when Charley spotted the zodiac, he'd tell Neri and she'd come and meet them and he was kind of hoping to catch a glimpse of her. He knew it was unlikely that he would until they got nearer towards the reef near her island but on a rare occasion she did turn up near to ORCA.

It was about a three quarter of an hour journey to get to island. ANT boats were quicker than the old zodiac and could get them there much faster but not by much. Cass and Brett started half heartedly discussing the state of repairs in ORCA and the progress that was being made, speculating as to when people would be allowed back onboard. Brett hoped it was soon so that he could maybe blag a place onboard one of the shuttles when it went back to the mainland to pick up more families so that he could spend some time ashore, stocking up on chocolate while Cassandra wanted to go and visit some friends she had on the mainland. They were just trying to take their mind off what was about to happen, to force themselves to act a little more cheerfully but it just wasn't working. Like when your trying to force yourself to not think about something with the result that you just end up thinking about it more and more and gradually the conversation drifted off into silence that no seemed to want to break.

About halfway to the island, Jason spotted a familiar fluted tail disappearing back into the sea and smiled to himself. Charley seemed happy enough today. He wondered if Neri was swimming with him and if she saw the boat if she'd swim over and join them or spend some more time with Charley and then swim off to meet them at the island. She could, after all, swim faster than the boat and even if she was quite far out to see could still beat them back to the island. When they'd first met Neri they'd use to try and race her to the island but they quickly realised that they didn't really have a chance against her. The only time they did beat Neri back to the island was when Neri was busy doing something, like catching a certain type of fish or looking for something in particular and then she would swim back as soon as she could to meet them on the island.

Today she didn't appear and when they finally did arrive at the island, she wasn't there on the beech to meet them, neither was she at the hut or the lake below the nest where she used to sleep.


	3. Do You Love Him?

**Summary: They never made a season five so this is what I like to think what would have happened next after the last episode of season four.**

**Disclaimer: Ocean Girl/Odyssey and all associated characters, places, institutions and ideas are the property of Jonathon M. Schiff. I loved this TV show and I wish they had continued and made many more seasons of it but in a way I'm glad they didn't because I can now write my own interpretation on what might have happened after season 4.**

**Chapter Three**

Meanwhile, as Jason, Cass and Brett were heading towards the island, Neri was swimming in the opposite direction, out towards the Mako Abyss. She darted in between the little passageways of the reef, a feeling of contentment filling her at the knowledge that for now the oceans were safe. Fish of all different colours and sizes darted around in a dizzying array that made her smile. She could hear Charley singing far out into the ocean and caught a glimpse of the outline of a familiar boat passing overhead in her mind. She smiled to herself at the sight of it because she hadn't expected to see Jason until later on this evening when he finished helping Mother. It was a nice surprise, maybe he might have brought Brett along with him.

She called out to Charley, letting him know where she was as she headed towards him. He seemed happy enough, searching the ocean for food and singing away quite happily. There was another humpback in the area and the two of them were chattering away quite happily. As she drew near to where he was, she herself saw the boat pass overhead and was tempted to swim up to greet them, or swim back to the island to meet them on the beach, but then she changed her mind. She was on her way to the pyramid, anxious to contact her sister and mother and find out if they'd made it safely back to the Ocean Planet and if the boat was heading out towards the island then Jason would probably be staying all day and she might not get a chance to return to the pyramid at all today if she went to meet them. They would be safe enough on the island until she got back.

Reluctantly she turned and swam away from the boat, heading out into deeper water where there were fewer fish. For a while she stayed near the surface, watching the bright light of the sun shimmer through the waves. It was such a nice day that she couldn't resist doing a few summersaults through the water, twisting and turning like a dolphin before rising to the surface to literally jump out into the air before slicing back through the waves. The sense of freedom was amazing as she started diving deeper and deeper towards the spot where the underwater pyramid lay.

It felt welcoming as she drew nearer too it, no longer the dangerous weapon that could have been used to destroy everything she loved and held dear in the wrong hands. It was once more dormant, switched off, a silent relic that had born witness to some of the most extraordinary events, all those weeks ago. Queen Shalamorn had wanted to send it back into the depths of the seabed before she left in case any human was tempted to visit the pyramid and try and bend it's powers to their own ends, but Mera and Neri had begged her to leave it there so that they could continue to use the power of the central power of the structure to allow them to communicate, even when they were so far away from each other.

The steep sides of the ancient stone structure rose steeply up out of the seabed, its straight edges and crisp angles looking completely alien to the jagged, uneven rocks around it. Every inch of the outer surface was carved with figures and words which represented so many different myths and legends from the Ocean Planet that when Mera had tried to explain them all, all the stories seemed to blur together in Neri's head to the point where she kept getting the stories mixed up. It had been magical for Neri to sit and listen to these stories that reminded her of the ones her father had told her when she was a little girl, but also it saddened her that she couldn't remember clearly which of the stories her father had taught her and which ones he hadn't.

Neri swam towards the point at the very top of the pyramid and tapped it once with her hand as she swam past. Brett had told her that many years ago, people visiting the pyramids in Egypt used to try and climb to the very tops of the pyramids as they pointed to the endless blue sky which she thought was rather funny when she had to dive down to get to the bottom of the pyramid in order to get inside it while she was surrounded by endless blue water. It was a thought that always made her smile when she visited the pyramid.

She swam down the face of the east facing wall of the pyramid, searching for the triangle panel that would allow her to enter the pyramid. It was about halfway down and she dived down quickly towards it, laying her hand over it in order to activate the opening mechanisms. As always the stone blocks parted easily, revealing a gloomy rectangular opening where mere moments ago there had been no sign of any entrance. Neri watched the opening warily for a moment, still unable to shake off the irrational fear that one of Malakat's commandos might appear from the shadowy hole and attack her, before she swam inside, heading towards the first large chamber.

She surfaced in the large pool and propelled herself towards the sides, quickly pulling herself out onto the side. All around her, reflections of the rippling water of the pool cast shadows around all the walls and large columns that surrounded the pool as somewhere inside the pyramid, the sound of loud drip echoed through the empty rooms. There were no other sounds apart from her footsteps as she padded quickly over the large steps that would lead to the rest of the pyramid.

She'd intended to head straight to the heart of the pyramid, to speak to her sister and then leave, heading back to the island and her friends but she couldn't help but enter the Great Chamber, to stand in front of the statue of her mother. She gazed up at her mother, awed as always by the beauty of the woman who had given birth to her. She longed to reach out and touch the hand of the statue that clutched the ankh in the hope that Shalamorn might had left her another hologram behind for her to see, but previous visits had shown her that that wasn't the case.

A mixture of love and pride filled her as she looked up at the statue. This was her very own mother, a person who she'd never in her wildest dreams ever thought that she would meet. She'd known, naturally, that she must have at one point have had a mother, but when her father had died, she'd lost all link to her, all chance of knowing anything about her. Jason and Brett's mother had taken on that role for her but there was nothing like the feeling of meeting her real mother.

She touched the base of the statue, hoping to feel some link to Shalamorn but all she felt was the cold marble of the statue. A wave of sadness followed the love and pride, regret that she hadn't been able to spend more time with Shalamorn before she'd left to go back home to the Ocean Planet. They'd missed out on so much time already and now, neither of them knew when they'd see each other in person again. When the spaceship had left, carrying her sister and mother to a far away planet that she didn't even remember, it was hard for Neri to stay behind. Part of her had really wanted to go with them, to see the strange planet where she had been born.

But there was too many things tying her to earth and she couldn't leave. One day, maybe, she would travel to the Ocean Planet and see her family again, but for now she was content to stay on earth with Jason and Charley. They were the most important people in her life right now, closely followed by Brett, Mother, Winston and Cassandra, as well as all the other friends she had made on earth. She wasn't ready to leave them all behind, to possibly never see their faces again. She didn't know if she would ever be completely ready to leave this planet where she had lived so happily for as long as she could remember for a strange new place like Mera had been willing to do.

With one last glance around the chamber, she headed out of the room and followed the passageway to the very centre of the pyramid. It was a strange room, similar to the HELEN's central nervous system but infinitely more complex and advanced. It was bathed in a soft blue light in contrast to the harsher lighting on ORCA. Power hummed through many thousands of tubes as the pyramid laid quietly resting all around her.

She reached out and touched one of the tubes, focusing on an image of her sister as she had last seen here. "Sister? Mera?" She whispered, not wanting to talk too loudly and disturb the piece of the pyramid. "Can you hear me?" She called, a strange feeling of vast expanses of space and time filling her.

An image of Mera seemed to materialise out of thin air, similar to the hologram that used to appear out of the statue. "Yes sister, I can hear you," Mera's voice sounded clear in Neri's head, as though she was stood in the same room and not somewhere on another planet, light years and galaxies away.

Neri smiled, feeling close to her sister despite the physical distance between them. Her heart felt lighter and everything was fine in her world. "You made it back safe?" She asked, needing this little bit of reassurance.

She heard an answering snort in reply and could almost see her sister rolling her eyes in response. "Yes, we made it back safely," Mera replied. "The journey was quick and event-free. Our people greeted our mother back with open arms, shocked at what Malakat had done,"

"That is good. People should not blame her for what Malakat did. She was a victim too," Neri agreed with her. "And the red virus?" Neri was curious to know how fast the virus was cleaning up on the Ocean Planet. It was slowly retreating in size on earth and while she knew she had to be patient, she wished it would go faster. Every day it lingered, even with the antidote, more damage was being done to the sea and the plants and animals. Every island and reef that she visited, every beach, still dead fish and plants were being washed up on the shoreline.

Mera laughed. "It is almost gone," A feeling of joy filled her heart, an echo of what her sister was feeling. "Our scientists came up with a way of copying the antidote and accelerating its powers. Within a few more days it will completely vanished and the oceans will start to recover,"

Neri nodded. "That is good."

"What about on earth?" Mera asked. "How are the oceans doing there?"

Neri sighed. "Jason and I monitor the virus every day," Neri admitted. "It is not spreading anymore but the antidote works slowly and there is much still to heal,"

Mera heard the sadness in Neri's voice and decided to try and lighten the mood. "And how is Jason?" She asked in a sing-song sort of voice that she'd learnt from Brett. He used it as an extremely effective weapon to wind Jason up when Jason was being particularly overbearing as the older sibling. "Has he been over to the island recently?"

"He is fine," Neri ignored her sister's insinuations. "Charley saw him heading back to the island. I go and see him soon,"

"You mean you let him go to the island alone?" Mera asked incredulously. "You chose a cold, empty underwater pyramid over spending time with Jason?"

"I needed to talk to sister, make sure you and Mother were safe," Neri shrugged. "Jason is safe on the island. He will wait till I get back."

Mera couldn't believe her ears. Only Neri, who was used to doing what she wanted when she wanted could get away with making a statement like that and know that she was right. Jason would probably wait forever for Neri and even though he was probably worrying sick about her and that something might have happened to her, when she did make it back to the island he'd put his impatience aside and just revel in the moment with Neri. He adored her and it was obvious to anyone looking at him how he felt. She'd heard about how Jason had been when Neri had been kidnapped and when he thought she had died, he'd nearly fallen apart from grief from Brett. She wasn't sure how Neri felt about Jason though. Neri was used to keeping her thoughts and feelings to herself and it was hard to read her.

"Do you love him?" Mera asked curiously, needing to know. "He cares deeply for you. He was willing to die with you in the pyramid when you thought that there was no other way,"

"I know, I feel the same for him," Neri said awkwardly, not knowing the words to adequately explain how she felt about Jason. She'd never felt like this for anyone before. She loved mother and Brett, Mera and her real mother and had been extremely close to her father, but what she felt for Jason was more than that. Like Charley, he was like a part of her soul; she couldn't imagine living without him.

"Then go and see him," Mera smiled. "You'd rather be with him right now,"

"Not true! I love my sister too," Neri argued.

"I know, but now you know I'm fine you can go and find him." Mera smiled. "Besides, Mother is calling for me now. I need to go,"

"Okay, sister," Neri answered quietly. "Tell Mother I miss her,"

"I will do," Mera told her. "Farewell sister,"

Before Neri could reply, the connection was broken and she was left feeling alone in the pyramid. She shivered, feeling a little cold. She whispered "Farewell," to herself and let go of the tube, severing any connection with her family so far away. She quickly turned and left the room, wiping a tear from her eyes as she left the room, slipping as quietly through the passageway until she came to the antechamber where the pool was and dived in, swimming out, letting the cool water of the ocean enfold her in it's embrace, providing some comfort for the ache inside her heart where she missed her mother and sister.

The thought of seeing Jason again so soon made her swim faster than ever, her long legs kicking hard to propel her through the water, so fast that when Winston tracked her progress via the satellite dish they'd placed on the island he couldn't quite believe what the monitors were telling him and gave them a sturdy thump in an attempt to correct the problem. When nothing changed on the monitor he wondered if something could be chasing her or if was some kind of boat or submarine, but when HELEN analysed the data and concluded that it was in fact Neri, he was astonished at the speed she was travelling at.

Charley too, saw her swimming past, darting through the water like a hungry shark as she headed back towards her island. He called out to her, asking if they would swim together today. She sent a message back telling him that maybe later she would come and find him, but that she had a visitor on her island. Maybe if Jason had brought his snorkelling equipment with him, they could swim with Charley together. The few times Jason had gone swimming with her out on the reef, Charley had been busy swimming for food. Maybe this time Jason could see him up close for the first time in his own habitat, not beached on the sand or peering down the scope of a crossbow.

She reached the beach, noting the boat pulled high up above the high tide mark and headed towards it. Normally Jason would wait with the boat until she arrived but he wasn't there. She noted three sets of footprints though heading towards the forest and followed them. Jason must have brought Cass and Brett along with him. She started running up the beach, excited to see them all. It had been a while since they were all able to make it out to her island just to relax and she was glad to see them. She would have to gather some fruit and berries, and maybe go fishing so that they could have a feast to celebrate.

Just before she reached the cool shade of the forest, Jason appeared through the trees, his face troubled. It lit up, though, when he saw Neri as she ran over to him and threw herself at him, hugging him tightly. He wrapped his arm around her and buried his face in her wet hair, not caring that his clothes were getting soaked from her own wet clothes. It was very sunny and warm outside and they'd soon dry off. His kissed her hair gently, marvelling not for the first time that such a special and amazing person existed.

They stayed like that for a few minutes, before they pulled away. She reached up to gently touch his face. "Jason," She smiled, her eyes lighting up with happiness. "It is good to see you. I did not expect you today,"

He leaned down to kiss her gently on the lips. "Neither did I," He told her with a smile, though Neri noted that it didn't quite reach his eyes. His eyes looked sad and troubled and her heart went out to him. "Mum said I'd been working too hard and changed my roster so that I could have four days off," He explained, wrapping his arm around her waist.

"You stay overnight?" She asked, hoping that he would. As much as she was used to being alone a lot, she hated it. It was a part of her life that she accepted without any complaint but she wished it wasn't so. She loved it when her friends stayed over, especially Jason.

"Yeah," He grinned. "I brought enough stuff for the next three nights. I bet by the end of it, you'll be sick of me and wishing I'd go back to ORCA," He joked.

Neri shook her head. "Never," She said firmly. "I love you staying over," She told him. "Come on, let's go and find the others, I haven't seen them for so long,"

"How do you know I brought the others with me?" Jason asked.

Neri smiled and pointed to the footprints in the sand. "Three sets of footprints," She laughed. "Come, we'll gather fruit and berries on the way," She told him.

Jason sighed, reminded of the reason why the others were here. For a brief moment when he saw Neri running towards him he'd been able to block it out of his memory but there was no escaping from it. "Neri, you should know, Mum, Dad and Winston will be coming out to the island today as well," He said heavily. "As soon as Mum can get away from ORCA,"

Neri frowned and took him by the hand. "I will go fishing then and catch more food," She said calmly looking at his face. "You look troubled. Has something happened?" She asked worriedly. Had Malakat escaped and come back to try and steal the power of the pyramid again? Where PRAXIS back and still looking for her? Fear welled up in her heart.

"Something has happened," Jason admitted, his heart sinking. He grabbed her hand gently, lacing his fingers through hers and giving it a gentle squeeze. "But Mum wants to explain it to you so we wait till she arrives." He told her seriously, grateful to be able to put it off for a bit longer but feeling a little bad for making the worry and fear that had been in her eyes all too much during the past few weeks and he never wanted to see her worrying about anything again. "It's nothing to worry about, just a message Madame President sent for you," He lied, downplaying the seriousness of it.

Neri wasn't convinced. "You are sure that is all?" She asked sceptically.

Jason nodded, "You're not in any danger at all," He couldn't lie to her again so he avoided the topic, going for reassurance. "I promise I won't let anything or anyone hurt you, Neri," He promised her, letting go of her waist and leading her towards the forest. He wasn't sure how he'd keep up this charade if it was just the two of them on their own, but at least with the other two here, he could probably make a good go of convincing her that everything was fine.


	4. What Are We Going To Do Without Her?

**Summary: They never made a season five so this is what I like to think what would have happened next after the last episode of season four.**

**Disclaimer: Ocean Girl/Odyssey and all associated characters, places, institutions and ideas are the property of Jonathon M. Schiff. I loved this TV show and I wish they had continued and made many more seasons of it but in a way I'm glad they didn't because I can now write my own interpretation on what might have happened after season 4.**

**Paradise Lost**

**Chapter Four: What On Earth Are We Going To Do Without Her?**

It was mid afternoon before Dianne was able to make it out to the island, having managed to pull Paul out of some extremely delicate and important negotiations with one of the mining companies on the grounds of a family emergency and when he'd finally managed to make it out to ORCA, Winston had become absorbed into his research and had disappeared to his laboratory to test some new theory he'd come up with. They'd taken the fastest boat that ORCA owned and had made it quickly out to the island, arriving at the beach to find the Zodiac deserted on the beach and no sign of the boys, Cass or Neri.

They headed up the beach and into the jungle, Dianne leading the way, trying to follow the landmarks that Jason had told her led to Neri's hut which was deeper into the jungle than Neri's nest had been. Ever protective and constantly worrying about her safety, Jason had built the new hut away from the pool, in a much harder to reach area of the jungle, deciding that the nest site was too easy to find for anyone searching for Neri.

Frogs, hidden in amongst the trees, croaked and birds sang, filling the forest with sounds. Dianne strained her ears though, listening for any sound of laughter or voices that would let her know that they were heading in the right direction. Since taking the job as Commander of ORCA, she hadn't had the time to make a trip out to the island; there was always someone or something that needed her attention, so she wasn't entirely sure about the location of Neri's new home.

Unluckily for Dianne; Neri, the boys and Cassandra were over on the other side of the island, snorkelling out past the rocks that marked the entrance the cove so there were no sounds for them to follow. She just had to trust the directions that Jason had given her were right and carried on, a little unnerved by the rainforest around her. Sure, she had briefly studied jungle and rainforests environments but her speciality and out on the coral reefs or in a boat on the ocean was where she felt most comfortable.

She needn't have worried though because after clambering somewhat clumsily over some ledges and tree routes, they came out into the tiny clearing where the small hut stood. There was a small fire burning in front of the hut and laid out on some stones was a pile of brightly coloured fruits and berries and cooking over the fire were some fillets of fish that Neri had caught for the others to eat. Before setting out for the Badlands, she'd readied some extra food in case Dianne arrived and was hungry.

Dianne's heart twisted painfully at this simple gesture from the girl she loved and considered to all intent and purpose to be her own daughter. The thought of her going away to a new life, one that she wouldn't be allowed to have any huge part was tearing her apart inside and she had to focus very hard on holding her emotions together in order to present a calm front, not wanting to make this harder than it had to be for her children. She picked up one of the mangos and held it to her heart for a moment, feeling close, as she did so, to the beautiful girl who had left it there for her.

"So this is where Jason disappears off to whenever he isn't on ORCA," Paul observed, looking closely at the hut that his son had built, a strange note in his voice that sounded almost like a mixture of bitterness and wistfulness to Dianne.

Things were still a little tense between father and son, though they were slowly but surely improving. Jason was still finding it hard to forgive his dad's betrayal of his mother, the complete absence from their lives for several years and his dad's inability to understand that no risk or danger was too great when it came to helping Neri or keeping her safe and Paul still expected Jason to do as he was told and listen to what his parents told him, seeming unable to see that in the years that he'd been away, Jason had grown into a strong, independent and mature adult who knew his own mind and would only give his respect to those he felt had earned it.

Paul's feelings towards Neri didn't help matters between them either. Whilst he was growing used to the idea of her place within his family and was growing to love her like she was his daughter, he hadn't known her for as long as Jason and Brett had and didn't have as easy a relationship with her. Added to this was the fact that Jason, Brett and Dianne had grown to know, love and accept Neri as part of their family before they knew that she was an alien from another planet. Paul had to from the start deal with the fact that this strange girl who was such a large part of his family was an alien from another planet when he'd never really believed that there was intelligent life out there. Now, finding out she was a princess and destined to be the next Queen of her planet didn't help ease the awkwardness.

"Yup," Dianne nodded with a smile as she lifted the spit, holding the fish over the fire and moved it carefully to a leaf covered rock, placing the perfectly cooked fish down to allow it to cool so they could eat it. "Ever since Jason met Neri he's been coming here whenever he can. There is a magic here that he doesn't find anywhere and it draws him back, time and again,"

"Neri," Winston nodded. "There is something magical about that girl. It's like she enchants everyone she meets, like a cobra enchants it's prey,"

Dianne smiled at this. "Yes, she does," She agreed thoughtfully. "There's something about her innocence, her willingness to believe that there is good in everybody and her selflessness that is irresistible," She laughed suddenly. "And to think I shouted at him and didn't believe him when we went out trying to tag Charley the first time and he didn't shoot because he saw a girl in the ocean,"

"And the bucketing he got from the other kids when Brett let slip what had happened to his friends," Winston chuckled. "Poor Jason, it didn't make life easy for him for a while until the talk died down, especially when he really didn't want to be on ORCA in the first place,"

Paul looked in shock at Winston at this. "But Jason loves living on ORCA. Anyone can see that just by looking at him,"

Dianne rolled her eyes. "He didn't feel that way when we first got here. He hated being away from his friends and all the comforts of living on the mainland and made sure everybody knew about it." Her eyes twinkled at the thought. "In fact, now I come to think about it, if he hadn't seen Neri that day and been so determined to find her, I think when my contract ran out we would have moved on somewhere else. It was only meeting Neri and being able to slip away with her on adventures that opened his eyes to how great a place ORCA was,"

"I remember welcoming him up on the pontoon on that first day and Jason turning round and telling me I was welcome to keeping ORCA too," Winston reminded her.

Dianne's eyes lit up at the memory. "And he tried to persuade the helicopter pilot to take his place on ORCA so he could go home," She remembered with a chuckle.

Winston nodded with a grin. "And the 'geek space cadet' uniforms and the showers,"

There were so many happy memories that Dianne had from living on ORCA for so long. It had become more of a home to her and her family than any normal house on the mainland could have ever been and she couldn't imagine ever living anywhere else but on the research station, out in the middle of the ocean cut off as she was from society. Yes, there had been awkward and hard moments living on ORCA where their quarters had got a bit tight or when there were confrontations between different members of personnel, but all the happy times, the new discoveries had more than made up for those. She didn't delude herself, part of the reason if not the main reason for that happiness was Neri.

Paul listened as their memories came pouring out, feeling a stab of bitterness and self hatred inside at the fact that if he hadn't been so selfish and stupid, he could have been there when these things happened experiencing the memories with his family instead of having to hear about them from the outside, feeling awkward because he had nothing to contribute to their reminiscing. He hated feeling like he was on the outside of the family group looking in but, no matter how he wished he could change the past, go back and change the bad decisions he made, he couldn't and this was part of the punishment that he would always have to deal with. All he could do now was make sure that as far as possible he was there for his family in the future.

"Looking back, I would never have believed that he would have grown into the person he is now," Dianne commented quietly. "He's always been such a strong minded person but spending time with Neri and the cadet training that he did really shaped him as a person. He's more willing to look out for other people, to stick up for those people who can't stand up for themselves and he won't let anyone bully him or his family,"

Winston smiled. "Still waters run deep," He agreed. "But what about Brett? Remember all the scrapes he managed to get himself into when he first arrived here,"

Dianne rolled her eyes. "Like I could forget," She joked. "Every time I look in the mirror I see the grey hairs that every single one of his escapades caused."

This was something Paul was able to join in the conversation on. He could remember how impulsive Brett was as a small child and it was often that impulsiveness that made his mischievous scrapes worse. He could be incredibly unpredictable and a fascination for everything. As a small child, whenever something caught his attention he would wander off to investigate, often without telling Dianne or Paul where he was going. "He's certainly less impulsive," Paul laughed. "Though it seems that as he's got older, the scrapes he gets himself into seem to get bigger and more dangerous. I mean raiding UBRI for bits of alien machinery, helping a girl in care run away from the authorities because she may have been the sister of their friend and then aggravating and taking on not only PRAXIS who can be a pain in the butt for the rest of us to deal with, but hostile people from another planet hell bent on flooding our planet and taking over,"

Winston eyes twinkled as he laughed. "It has to be said that were there's trouble, Brett is usually somewhere in the middle of it all," He agreed. "Remember when he let Cass talked him into helping her prank her sister and they ended coating the commander in soap bubbles…"

"And the time they caused the power surge when Jason was meant to be analysing those core samples," Dianne recalled suddenly. "Poor Jason got in so much trouble because Brett and his friends were trying to work out how to get free milkshakes out of HELEN. I was so mad at him because I was trying to analyse all our data and it seemed every time I made a start at it, Jason would get into trouble and I'd have to go and sort it. I think I grounded him that time and yet Brett and he still managed to cause a stir with that whole Zenco business,"

Privately, Dianne thought to herself that her sons weren't the only ones who'd change as a result of knowing Neri and living on ORCA. When she'd first arrived at ORCA, she'd still been reeling with the betrayal of finding Paul with that other woman and wanted to get away from the house they'd shared, where they'd had all those arguments, those bitter words that had still rung in her ears, even after Paul had left. She'd tried burying herself as much as possible in her work, to the point where, she was now ashamed to say, her sons had suffered. Sometimes she had gotten so focused in her work that they were left alone for long periods of time, where they saw her as being more concerned about succeeding in her research than about them.

It had taken Neri's arrival in their lives to change that, to realise that there was more to life than making huge scientific discoveries and that her family were the most important thing in the world. Somewhere in the pain of the divorce she'd lost sight of that and Neri, and the way Jason looked after her and demanded that Dianne treated her like a person, not just the scientific specimen exhibiting extraordinary abilities. With that child-like innocence, the Neri's need for a family and a mother figure at a time when Jason and Brett had been becoming more independent, growing away from her, the compassion mixed up with an extremely practical view of the world, Neri had become almost the keystone that help this new life she'd managed to build for herself.

Neri had become an important part of the family, as though she was indeed Dianne's blood daughter and had become so ingrained into her life, that Dianne had started reflecting on what the future might have held for her, the close relationship between Jason and Neri maybe developing into a much deeper relationship, maybe developing into a new little family with small children with the practical, loyalty that she saw in Jason mixed with the wild, idealistic, more at home in the oceans than the modern world that would come from Neri. She hadn't realised just how close Jason and Neri had grown over the past few months, partly because of her ORCA duties and maybe partly because subconsciously she hadn't wanted to think about her children growing into young adults, but it would be impossible for anyone to miss how Jason felt about Neri. His absolute refusal to let Neri go alone to the Underwater Pyramid to face Malakat in the final confrontation, his utter desperation and grief when he thought Neri had died and the way he always put her needs before his own. With Neri, it was slightly harder to tell unless you knew her closely but the signs where there if you just knew where to luck.

The two of them belonged together, they completed each other and made a formidable team. How could anyone with any heart tear them apart?

She sighed and looked over to Winston who was looking at her expectantly. He must have made some statement and was waiting for an answer from her, but she'd been too lost in her own thoughts and hadn't heard it. Instead of replying to whatever it was she'd missed, she just came out with the one thought that had been plaguing both their minds since they'd heard the news. "What on earth are we going to do without her, Winston?"


	5. Where Lost Souls Lie

**Summary: They never made a season five so this is what I like to think what would have happened next after the last episode of season four.**

**Disclaimer: Ocean Girl/Odyssey and all associated characters, places, institutions and ideas are the property of Jonathon M. Schiff. I loved this TV show and I wish they had continued and made many more seasons of it but in a way I'm glad they didn't because I can now write my own interpretation on what might have happened after season 4.**

**Paradise Lost**

**Chapter Five: Where Lost Souls Lie  
**

On the other side of the island, Neri waited waist deep in the sea, staring out into the ocean waiting for the others to emerge from the buried ship. Since Malakat's revelations of his reconfiguring the ships navigational systems to cause the crash causing the death of so many innocent people, the wreckage of the ship had become a symbol of death to Neri and once more the Badlands were a place she avoided going to. With so many lives wasted and some pain caused, Neri had made up her mind that she would never enter the ship again. There were just too many spirits down there that deserved to be left in peace.

Brett, on the other hand, felt no fear of the ship and had begged that they go and explore it further. He had been so enthusiastic about it and Cass, who had never seen the inside of the ship, had joined in trying to persuade Neri that she had given in and agreed to come with them. They'd crossed the island, with Brett and Cass hurrying on ahead, leaving Jason and Neri following closely behind in silence.

The waves lapped gently around her waist as she thought back to that brief moment. Jason had seemed unusually quiet and distant, like his mind was somewhere else but when Neri had asked what was troubling him, he'd simply shaken his head and made excuses about being tired from his ORCA duties. She'd sensed that he wasn't telling her the whole truth, and inside her heart she felt a little stab of pain at the thought that he didn't trust her enough to tell her what was really bothering him, but she consoled herself with the idea that Jason would tell her what was bothering in his own time.

After checking to make sure that the ship was still free of water, Jason, Brett and Cass had disappeared into the black hole. At first, Brett had tried to persuade her to come in with her. "Come on, Neri, just think what else might be down there that for you to discover," He'd said cajolingly. "Don't you want to explore it further? We might find more areas of the ship we can get to. There might be more cool things down there just waiting for us to find them,"

Neri had shaken her head firmly. "No, my people died down there because of Malakat's greed," She'd told him firmly. "I will not go down again into the dark,"

"But Malakat is gone now, it's perfectly safe now," Brett had tried again.

She'd just shaken her head even more firmly. "You go down if you must," She shrugged. "I stay up here in the sun," She told them, taking a few steps towards the glitteringly blue ocean. The day was almost unbearably hot and her body was drying out and beginning to feel more sluggish and heavy faster than it normally did. The cool water was calling to her and she wanted to answer.

Brett had shaken his head, muttering something about her missing out because of an irrational fear before shimmying down the rope. Cass had then followed him down, leaving Jason alone on the beach with Neri. "Are you okay?" He'd asked concernedly, wrapping his arm around her waist and burying his hand in her hair.

She looked up and met his eyes gravely. "My people died down there," She repeated to him. "It feels wrong enter the place where they died, here in my heart it feels not good," She told him seriously.

He'd nodded seeming to understand. "I'll stay up here with you then," He offered, stroking a lose strand of her hair away from her face. "They probably won't get much further than Kal's chamber," He'd tried reassuring her.

"No! Go with them!" Neri had told him firmly. "Make sure Brett doesn't fall down any more holes, I'll be safe up here," She'd told him. She knew Jason was fascinated with the inside of the ship though he tried not to show it. It was full of technology from another planet, the kind of things people on earth could only dream about and he wanted to know more about it. Neri, who lived most of her life without human or her own planet's technology had barely any interest in it at all, being used to relying on the natural world around her to stay alive.

Jason had put up a few more token protests before allowing Neri to push him towards the black entrance hole. His gaze never left hers as he shimmied down the rope, disappearing down into the darkness to follow his brother and Cass. She'd waited a few moments, ears straining to catch any sound that would indicate that the boys and Cass were in danger or had fallen down any watery shafts before turning and running towards the ocean, quickly diving under the waves.

She'd quickly swum through the shallow waves, twisting and diving, leaping out above the surface of the water before returning to the shallow depths of the cove, trying to cool her body down in the crystal clear waters. Whilst the power of the pyramid had put a stop to the massive global warming Malakat had set into action, the earth's climate was a complex system and was slowly but gradually returning to it's normal levels and it would take the Antarctic and North Pole many years to recover from the amount of ice that had been melted to reform.

These weren't the things that had clouded her mind though as she swam. Something was off with Cassandra, Brett and Jason and none of them seem to want to tell her about it. Maybe it was something to do with her and Jason had warned the others not to mention to her because he didn't want her worrying about it. Or maybe Mother was ill or something like that. They were all trying to act normal and as excited as they normally where when they came out to the island but there was just something a little forced about the way that they were all acting, as though they were trying too hard to have fun and be carefree when normally their enjoyment would just come naturally to them.

After a while of swimming she'd headed back towards the beach in the hope that the others would have got bored exploring the ship and would have come back up to the beach. The beach was deserted though and apart from the foot prints they had made heading towards the ship, there was no sign that they'd even been there.

Cocking her head to the side, she'd headed up to the mouth of the entry to the space ship and listened carefully, hoping to hear any noises that would let her know that they were okay, that they were coming back up to the surface, tired of exploring the wrecked ship. She'd heard faint echoes of their voices and with a sinking heart knew that they wouldn't come out of the ship any time soon. She'd been tempted to call out to Jason but didn't, knowing he was probably just as excited about everything down there as Brett, even if he wasn't as vocal about that.

Continuing into the cool shade of the tree, she'd found a banana and carried it with as she turned and ran back towards the water. Even taking into account the heat of the day and the need to stay cool and wet, she just couldn't seem to stay away from the cool depths of the blue sea. She'd slowed down when she reached the shallow waters, slowly making her way deeper into the water, peeling the skin back on the fruit slowly and taking a small bite out of the fruit.

Over the past few years her life had changed more than she had ever imagined it could. When her father had died, she'd expected that she would always be alone, just her and Charley alone in a world surrounded by humans who couldn't be trusted not to hurt them. Her island, the ocean and Charley made up her entire world and though she often got lonely and wished that there was someone there to share it with, she had been resigned to living her life that, out of sight and knowledge of the human race. It had been a world she felt safe in, knowing how to exist in the world, avoiding the dangers and gathering only the resources that she needed, barely making any impact on the world around her.

Then, out of nowhere, Jason and his family had come crashing into her life. She'd known that she would have to be more careful then. It would have been so easy to have been sucked into their world, to forget her father's warnings and to leave the island and live amongst the humans with all their technologies and comforts, to leave Charley and the island behind. When she'd first been to ORCA, she'd felt drawn to find out as much as possible, to learn everything she possibly could. There were so many new things, magical things that she could never have dreamed that they existed, all those times she'd sat on the beach next to a small fire, wondering about just what exactly lay out there in the human world, just beyond her reach.

Jason and Brett, as soon as Charley had given his approval , she'd given her trust to almost whole-heartedly, eventually even telling them everything she knew. She'd shared her home with them, given them her food and a place they could go to when they'd needed to escape the discipline of ORCA and even as they'd made the discoveries about her heritage, she'd wanted them to be their throughout all of it. What they told her she trusted, even if she didn't agree with it and in most cases was willing to listen to them when they voiced their opinions.

In turn they had brought her into their family, given her a place and people to go to when she was lonely. She had a mother to advise her when her heart was troubled, Winston who was wise, almost like her father and quick to laugh, to find the positives in a situation, to make the best of any situation. Sly and quick witted as a fox but with the heart of a lion, he was as much a part of her family as mother and the boys.

But now she had a new family, her real mother, her sister and her own planet, a planet that she one day would have to return to, to rule over it and it's people like her mother had before her, a new planet with new things to learn, new people to meet. To get there though, would mean leaving behind the only place she'd ever known as home, to leave her family, to leave Jason behind. The pain that this left in her heart was so great, so terrible that in some ways, a tiny part of her that she pushed to the back of her mind, wished that she'd never found out. One day she would have to leave this place and possibly never return to it and that day would probably come all too soon.

She knew her sister had adapted to life on the Ocean Planet and loved it even more than she had ever loved earth. She felt at home amongst her own people for the first time in her life and had the brains and courage to be a better ruler than Neri could ever be. Though Mera had returned to Earth a couple of times since she'd left that first time in the space ship when Neri had chosen to stay behind, and though Neri knew that Mera loved the island and being with her older sister, Neri knew that Mera felt torn, a strong longing to return to Ocean Planet, saw her creep away from the fire at night to go to the beach and gaze out at the sky, searching for the star that she called home.

Neri didn't think that would be the case for her. She was happy here and for her this would always be home, the place where she had grown up with her father. Something inside her heart told her that when she herself left home for the Ocean Planet, she too would leave the warm fires at night and gaze up at the sky, searching for her real home, where her other family would be.

_A boat approaches…_

Charley's thoughts sang inside her head and she caught a flash of an ORCA boat racing across the waves, heading towards the island in the distance.

_I see it… I come see who it is…_

She raced into the water, a quick look behind her to check that there was no sign of the others. She thought she saw a flash of blonde hair appearing out of the spaceship's entrance but she didn't wait. It would only take her a few minutes to go and see who it was and then return. They could wait for her. Besides, she was starting to feel a little dry and needed the coolness of the ocean surrounding her, to soothe the heat of the sun.

She sliced through the water, scattering shoals of fish as she flashed past, quickly leaving the shallow waters and approached the boat. She circled behind the boat, quietly appearing at the surface. She knew it would probably be mother, Winston and their father, just like they had told her they would be coming.

Listening over the noise of the engine, she clearly heard their voices and for a moment considered calling out to them, climbing on the boat to talk to them, but quickly discarded that idea, diving back under the surface of the water.

Back at the island, she hovered for a moment in the water before heading towards shore. Jason stood ankle deep in the water, scanning the water for her, a half impatient look on her face. "Where've you been?" He demanded as she reached him, the water sliding off her skin.

"Mother's arrived." She said quickly. "Come, you said it was important. We go meet her," She turned her back on him and headed up the beach towards Cassie and Brett who were sheltering under the trees of the forest out of the hot sun, leaving Jason to follow behind her.

Brett was the first to notice her. "Neri! There you are!" He smiled. "You should have seen some of the things down there, its crazy!"

Neri smiled gently but shook her head. "People die down there. Let them rest," She shrugged.

Brett looked set to argue with her but Cass gave him a hard dig in the stomach that shut him up. "So where did you go? We saw you run out into the sea just as we were coming out of the ship. Jason was worried, he thought something might have happened,"

"Did not!" Jason glared at the younger girl.

Neri smiled. "Come, we go back to hut," She said firmly. "Charley saw boat heading for island. Mother and Winston are here,"

She turned her back on them and missed the way the smiles melted off the other's faces. The moment they'd been dreading had now come and as predicted, they weren't ready for it.


	6. The Wish of Her Mother

**AN: To anybody still reading this, sorry it's taken me so long to write this next part. I've had a rough year with finishing college, applying to university, looking for work and worries that I might have had a problem with my heart and I just haven't had the time or energy or inspiration to work on this story. I never forgot about it though and I have started to draft out chapter seven of this story as well in my notebook and I intend to start working on finishing that draft and typing it up as soon as possible. Going back and re-reading this, I have noticed all the grammar mistakes in this and the previous chapter and when I get chance, I will go back and correct any mistakes that I find. If anyone does want to be my beta reader for this story and read through and correct mistakes in chapters before I post them, please get in touch. I find it impossible to proof read my work and always feel really embarrassed when I reread my work and see all the mistakes I made. My friend who normally reads through my work has never watched the Ocean Girl series and therefore refuses to proof read it on the grounds that she hasn't a clue what's going on it. **

**Anyway, I hope you enjoy reading this chapter and please feel free to leave me some feedback to let me know how I can improve my work so that it's even better for you to read.**

**Summary: They never made a season five so this is what I like to think what would have happened next after the last episode of season four.**

**Disclaimer: Ocean Girl/Odyssey and all associated characters, places, institutions and ideas are the property of Jonathon M. Schiff. I loved this TV show and I wish they had continued and made many more seasons of it but in a way I'm glad they didn't because I can now write my own interpretation on what might have happened after season 4.**

**Chapter Six: The Wish of Her Mother**

Jason watched helplessly, almost frozen in time as Neri dashed passed him, her long legs propelling her swiftly across the forest floor, feet confident and sure in where they landed. He wanted to freeze this moment, to pull her back and stop her from running head first into a future that would tear them apart, a future which he knew with every fibre of his being that she wouldn't want. He felt almost like he was standing on the edge of an abyss, paralyzed with fear, watching as she unknowing ran unstoppably towards the edge of the cliff, unable to stop her from falling when the ground ran out beneath her feet.

"Neri! Slow down!" He called out to her. "Wait for us!" His voice wasn't as steady as he wanted it and Neri, always perceptive to subtleties of his moods paused and turned towards him, a frown stretching on his face.

"But Mother and Winston are here," A confused expression on her face. "You said it was important, that they needed to speak with me."

Jason felt trapped. He couldn't lie to her but he couldn't tell her the truth either. Not yet. "There's no rush though," He said lamely, knowing the minute Neri's eyebrows raised that she didn't believe him.

"Must be important," She pointed out. "Mother doesn't come to island that much. Too busy at ORCA."

Jason floundered, unsure of what to say. Thankfully Cass stepped in and came to his rescue. "Yeah, but we can't run as fast as you can." She pointed out. "Wait up for us."

The frown on the Neri's face eased a little. "I forget," She said apologetically. "You do not know the forest floor. Come, I want to see Mother but I will slow down," She came back towards them, linking hands with the other girl."You should come here more. Learn the forest floor,"

"I wish I could," Cass laughed, allowing Neri to lead her forward, over the rough path through the trees. "But HELEN keeps me so busy at ORCA I barely have time to stop and eat, to sleep at night before I have to get up and start work again."

Behind the two girls, Brett thumped his older brother in the arm, surprising Jason who yelped. "Oi, what was that for, you little creep?" Despite feeling so much older and more mature these days, sometimes when he was taken by surprise, Jason still slipped into the old teasing names that he had used on Brett as a child.

Brett merely glared at him, consciously aware that Neri had turned at Jason's cry to see what was going on. Why couldn't Jason hold it together for a few more minutes? Cassandra rolled her eyes and pulled on Neri's arm., directing the ocean girl's attention back to her and away from the boys.

"But soon everything will be okay at ORCA." Neri pointed out. "More people come back to ORCA and you have time to come to the island."

"Yeah sure," Cass said awkwardly, a smile lighting her face.

"Good," Neri smiled happily. "I like friends coming to my island."

The path grew narrower and Cass let go of Neri's arm, letting her take the lead through the trees. In places the path seemed to stop at a dead end, blocked by the buttress roots of some of the trees but this didn't stop Neri or even slow her down. She just instinctively found the easiest way up the often steep roots before turning to help pull Cass and Brett up the path, her strong arms easily helping them up.

It didn't take them long to get back to the more familiar side of the island. As they came to Neri's pool, she broke off ahead and ran to the pool, kicking up thousands of tiny drops of water that even in the small clearing surrounded by tall trees that shaded the forest floor from the burning hot sun, still sparkled like millions of precious diamonds and the sun shone through the large gap in the trees. Submerging herself in the water, she swam quickly to the other side of the pool, washing some of the salt off her skin left over from her swim in the ocean.

She waited on a rock for the others to pick out the path round the edge of the pool, smiling to herself about the thought that if it had just been her and Jason, he would have followed her into the pool, not caring about getting his uniform wet. She liked it when he took his uniform off and swam with her. He didn't have as big muscles as Kal, but when Jason took off his uniform and swam with her, it seemed like he really relaxed and let go of some of the things he worried about.

Their eyes met as he made his way towards her, his eyes burning with emotion that Neri knew was echoed in her own eyes. She smiled that little smile that she saved only for him, hoping that whatever it was that Mother needed to tell her wasn't anything too bad. She wanted to spend some time with Jason, didn't want to be worried by serious things today. They had the next four days together and she wanted to enjoy every minute of them.

Whilst she spent almost every day with Jason, monitoring the red virus and tracking the progress of the antidote, there was little time for them to laugh and joke. Making sure that the oceans of the Earth recovered and that habitats for all the fish and the plants were restored was a serious and important job and they worked well as a team. But they seemed to spend every day doing, working from early in the morning, well into the early evening, after which Jason had to go back to ORCA to report their findings to Mother and the other humans like her who were in charge of looking after the massive waters of the oceans.

By the time Jason had finished his duties for the day and had headed back over to the island to spend time with her, the pair of them were exhausted and spent most of the time lying on the beach, watching the sun set into the ocean, talking together and enjoying being in each others company.

As they drew nearer, she waited, knowing that Cass and Brett could find their way easily back to the hut that they had built her without needing Neri to guide them in the direction. Watching as Cass and Brett moved on past her, she reached out and stroked her had across Jason's face, gently tracing his lip with her finger. He lifted his hand up to hold hers gently in place when she would have moved away, prolonging this shared moment between the two of them for a few more heartbeats before linking their fingers together as he raised her slowly from the rock and lead her onto the path.

It only took a few minutes for them to reach the clearing where Neri's hut stood. Diane was sat under the shade of a large tree, watching the children as they approached. Winston and Paul were sat by the fire, Paul moodily stirring the embers of the small fire with a stick, listening as Winston tried to cajole him into approving some new and very experimental equipment that Winston felt would help him make a key break-through in one of the research projects he was investigating.

Neri's face lit up when she saw them there. Her hand slipped out of Jason's as she ran up the last few metres of the path, almost launching herself at Diane, who barely managed to stand up in time to catch the girl in a warm embrace. "Mother, it is good to see you," Neri pulled back slightly to look Diane in the eye. "It is long time since you came to my island," She gently rebuked the woman who had become a mother figure in her life.

Diane's lips quirked into a smile, though it wasn't enough to chase the sadness out of her blue eyes, "It has been too long," She agreed, wishing that she'd had more time to get away from ORCA to visit the island and get to know it as well as Jason and Brett, so that she could feel like it was as much a second home to her as it was to the boys, a refuge away from the stresses of life onboard ORCA. "But we're here now," She pointed out gently.

"Yes, it is good you are here," Neri nodded gravely before turning to Winston who came over to greet her, enveloping him too in a warm embrace.

Winston smiled down at her. "Neri, I must say that you get more radiant each time I see you," He told her gravely. "As radiant as the dawn that lights the sky and chases away the winter storms," He complimented her.

Her face lit up with a smile that could indeed under any other situation, chase the stormy thoughts and whirling emotions from Winston's mind. "Winston, my friend," She greeted him warmly. "Have you come to swim the reef with me?" She teased gently, "Or climb to the top of island to look out at the sea?"

A hint of red stained Winston's cheeks at this gentle reminder of the obstacles he had overcome over the years in the company of this beautiful creature. "Oh no! No!" He blustered quickly, unsure what to say. He wracked his brain for a reason why they were here, not wanting to be the one to break the news, or even steer the conversation in the direction that it would ultimately have to follow. Maybe it was it was cowardly, he thought to himself, to almost hide from the truth and the reality of the situation but who could blame him? "I intend to keep my feet firmly on solid ground today. I shall leave the scaling of great heights to the nimble feet of mountain goats and the kiss of the cool ocean to the scales of the fish,"

Brett frowned, "Winston, what on earth are you blathering on about now?" He demanded, still after all these years able to be surprised by the almost poetical answers Winston was able to come out with.

"Brett, don't be rude," Paul stepped forward at this point, glaring at his son's disrespect for one of his mother's colleagues, effectively drawing Neri's attention to him.

She took a few hesitant steps towards him, nodding her head in greeting towards him whilst still maintaining a small gap between him. There was something about this man that made her still wary of him, even after all the help he had given her in the past. Maybe it was still the tense relationship between Paul and Jason, the waves of tension that seemed to surround the two family members whenever they were together. She had never actually seen him relaxed and joking, only ever stern and unbending as though he expected everything and everyone to fall instantly in line with his wishes. She wasn't even sure how she should refer to him in greeting. He wasn't a father figure to her, for after all, it wasn't like she had lacked a father figure in her life. Her relationship with Paul wasn't like her relationship with Diane because she'd always known who her father had been and would carry the memory of his beloved face, the sound of his voice and the wisdom he had imparted to her around with her forever.

He also wasn't commander of ORCA because that was Diane, that was Mother's title and all the respect that she knew the title deserved was as such directed towards Diane. She knew that Paul had greater authority than Diane and was in charge of other things as well as ultimately in charge of what went inside ORCA, but she had never seen these other places, couldn't even begin to imagine what they looked like and therefore couldn't really begin to feel anywhere near the kind of respect that she knew she should feel towards him.

Calling him by his real name seemed disrespectful as well. "Jason and Brett's father," She finally settled on greeting him as. The formalness of it was achingly unfamiliar to her but it was the only way she could think of referring to him. "Welcome to my island,"

Paul seemed poised upon taking a step forward to embrace the girl he was starting to look on as his own daughter. The way Diane and his boys talked about this girl in such glowing words, it was impossible for him not to feel in someway connected to the girl. A glance over her shoulder though at Jason's frowning face convinced him that hugging her would not be the right idea. He had no idea what Jason and Brett had told her about him, but he doubted there was much good included in there and she had often witnessed the discord between him and his eldest son. By hugging her, he would probably be trespassing into a part of his family's life that he wasn't fully welcomed to yet.

So instead his stern face softened into a smile. "Neri, it is good to see you again. Your island is a beautiful as the boys told me," He complimented her, raising his arms up around him to indicate their surroundings. "But please, call me Paul."

Neri returned his smile tentatively. "Welcome Paul," She greeted him again before turning to the others, "Come, sit," She moved towards the fire and sat down on a large, smooth rock that was next to it and indicating to other similar rocks. She picked up a handful of berries that had been left on a large leaf that she had left out for Mother and Winston to eat. She examined one carefully, checking for any signs that insects may have reached the ripe fruit but after a moment popped a couple into her mouth, savoring the sweet taste on her tongue.

Jason was the first to move, crossing the clearing to sit behind Neri, his hand tenderly brushing her hair and shoulder as he moved. Brett and Cass instantly moved their normal seating positions where they normally sat when they were here, Brett to a huge boulder just inside the shade of the trees on either side the clearing, the muscles in his arms working hard to haul his body to the top of it, whilst Cass moved to sit on the opposite side of the fire to Neri.

Diane moved to sit slightly to the right of Neri's calm figure, knowing that time was running out but still totally lost as to how to bring the subject up. Instead she stalled for a few minutes, trying to buy a few extra minutes in this paradise. "Thank you for the food you left us," She indicated the few remains of the fish that had been slowly cooking over the fire. "It was absolutely delicious,"

"Much better than Jason's cooking," Winston agreed, gently teasing the silent boy behind Neri as he made his way over to sit down, carefully easing his body down to sit on one of the larger boulders slightly set back from the fire. "I think it is you that should come and live on ORCA with us and treat us to your wonderful cooking each night, whilst Jason stays here on the island."

"I do not think so," Neri smiled, appreciating the joke but seriously pointing out, "My place is here on the island, my home. I do not belong in your world," She pointed out, reminding them of the time they had early lost Charley because she went to stay on ORCA to help with Diane's research work and almost lost the ability to speak with him. "There are millions of beautiful things in your world but I cannot stay there too long,"

Paul, who had moved towards the group but had remained standing, looked down on her. "But one day you must leave here," He pointed out. "One day you will return to your own planet and leave Charley and this island behind. Your real place is there, not here," He regretted the words as they came out but there was an element of truth there that he couldn't deny.

Diane looked horrified at her ex-husband, shocked at his words. "Paul! How dare you say something like that!"

Neri smiled bitterly. "But he is right, is he not?" She reminded Diane. "Mother says that one day I must leave Earth and go back to the Opal Planet. That day my heart will break but I will go,"

"Until then though, you belong here! This is your island, your home and it always will be so long as you are here on earth," Brett found himself saying vehemently, even though he knew that this wasn't the case. "And as part of our family!"

The warmth of the love that she felt towards these people made Neri speechless for a moment. After being on her own for so long with only Charley for company, having a family once more was something she would forever be eternally grateful for. "I hope it is so, I wish it so," She agreed with him, leaning back a little into Jason, feeling his arm creep reassuringly around her waist before she continued speaking. "But I sense that something is wrong. Something bad has happened. Something here on Earth. My sister say that all is well on Opal Planet, that the virus is clearing and that the people welcome my Mother back with joy, here in their hearts," She raised her hand to cover her heart before continuing. "But you look sad, Mother, and you too Winston." She frowned a little and turned to look questioningly at Jason, who for the first time since she'd met him on the beach that day allowed the stress to show upon his face.

All Jason could do was wrap his arms tightly around her and pull him back into the shelter of his body, burying his face in her hair as he whispered her name over and over again.

Alarm grew in Neri's eyes and she turned to stare at Diane. "Mother…?" Fear filled her voice.

Diane sighed, mentally cursing Paul for his clumsy words that had let the conversation spiral out of control into this mess. "Neri, I got a call from Madame President this morning," She admitted, struggling to keep her voice steady, now that the dreaded moment had come. Her eyes started to well up with tears that she had to fight to keep from falling. "She has taken to heart your Mother, Queen Shalamorn's wishes that you bring the human race and the people of your own planet closer together. She feels that you cannot do so by remaining here on the island, living isolated from the rest of the world. In a few days, she wants you leave your island and become an ambassador of your people, to teach the human race about your planet and people and to show that you mean them no harm, that your people are not something to be feared, but to be welcomed to our planet with open arms,"

"But my home, my family," Neri protested, pain like nothing she had ever felt welled up in her heart. "I cannot leave here, I cannot leave you or Charley…" Her mind called out to him, pouring out what was happening, the pain in her heart, her terror at the huge human world that she did not know. His answering song was filled with the echoing terror and pain shared by the whale at the thought of them never seeing each other again. But below that, she could feel his love, a love that she returned whole-heartedly.

"Madame President understands how difficult this will be for you, Neri," Paul broke in at this point. "But she is in charge of helping the Earth to recover from Malakat's attempt at invading this planet and wiping out the human race. People have seen terrible things happen to their homes and lives, seen whole cities destroyed and a terrible virus sweep through the seas, destroying everything in it its path. They are scared and nobody really knows what happened. They know that aliens tried to destroy their planet but where beaten back. For all they know, they think that more of your people would come back and try to do the same and they would do whatever it took to annihilate them before they could even land on this planet. Queen Shalamorn said that many of your people want to come here, to see what this world is like and maybe even make their home here, away from the bad memories they have from the Opal Planet. Defenseless women and children, whole families coming here looking to make a new home for themselves but because the human race would think they were coming to make war, they would be hunted down and killed or worse, held hostage like you were with Praxis until they died a very slow and painful death,"

He paused for a moment, looking for the right words. "I know this is your home and that Jason, Brett ad Diane are your family. But this goes beyond us all. You can stop this happening, Neri, you can show them the truth with your kindness and goodness. You can save lives and bring our people together. Think of all the help your scientist could give us to restore the oceans, to better look after the Earth, to better protect it and look after it. Your father came here with you to safeguard the Oceans, to look after them and take care of them. Think how much influence you will have on the world. You'll be meeting the heads of every country on this planet, the people who have the power to change things. You could make a difference in a way that nobody else could,"

"By moving away from the island, living in our world and understanding how we live our lives, you could make a difference. You could save lives and make changes that no one else could. There's a huge beautiful world out there, millions of different people and places, untold numbers of stories for you hear and things to see. You could make the difference that your father wanted to make, to do what he couldn't and keep his memory alive."

The sound of the fire crackling, the birds and animals moving around the forest, calling to each other seemed deafening in the silence as Paul fell silent. Nobody seemed to know what to say but everybody's eyes were fixed on Neri who looked like she was almost drowning under the weight of what Paul had just told her. The truth in what had been said was undeniable and as much as each one of them wanted to argue, to fight against fate and keep Neri there, safe on her island, each knew that it was a selfish wish that drove them, a wish that ultimately would be futile.

After a moment she spoke. "My heart says I must do this, that this is my path," Jason felt her body shaking against his and held on even tighter as though he was afraid that she would slip through his fingers like smoke and disappear into thin air. He had no idea how she managed to keep her voice calm and steady. "But how can I do this, leave my family, leave Charley and my island, to leave Jason," She asked, her voice breaking with utter despair. "I do not know your world, I would not belong there…"

Diane spoke up, leaning over and wrapping her arms around her heart's daughter. "We will always be here Neri, always part of your family." She told the girl gently, even as her heart broke inside her chest. "You can always come back here any time you want to and we'll be here waiting for you with open arms," Diane said fervently, praying with all her heart that her words were true, that Neri would be allowed to return here to see them, to return to the open arms of her family.

"Then I will go," Neri spoke, her voice shaking and barely audible to the rest of the group looking on. "If this is the wish of my Mother and my people, I will do it," Neri's hand found Jason's as she spoke, threading her fingers through his and squeezing tight, holding on as if for dear life.


End file.
